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Patience Makwele The government wants sport to contribute 3.5% to Namibia’s employment sector under the Sixth National Development Plan (NDP6), up from the 1% contribution recorded during the previous development plan. Education, innovation, youth, sport, arts and culture Minister Sanet Steenkamp said the target forms part of the government's push to professionalise sport and create sustainable careers in the sector. “While we have not yet fully realised that target, our resolve has not wavered, indeed, it has grown,” Steenkamp said. Steenkamp was speaking on Thursday at the Sports Seminar on “Unlocking Namibia’s Sport Economy” and the launch of the Namibia…

Patience Makwele The National Youth Service (NYS) has been urged to track the progress of young people after they leave its programmes, as the government considers expanding the role of national service. Education, innovation, youth, sport, arts and culture minister Sanet Steenkamp said recruitment and training figures alone should no longer be used to measure the success of the NYS. “The number of young people recruited and trained is important, but it cannot be the only measure of success,” Steenkamp said during the inauguration of the new nine-member NYS Board in Windhoek on Monday. She said the NYS should be…

Namibia’s growing obsession with status, recognition and the art of “othering” There was a time when being called “Mr” or “Mrs” was enough. Then came the proliferation of titles. Doctor. Professor. Engineer. Honourable. Councillor. Ambassador. Chief. Executive Director. Chairperson. And, increasingly, VIP, although even VIP appears to have become insufficient. We now have VVIPs. One wonders: what exactly are we trying to prove? Are we creating a society in which people are forgetting their names and only remembering their titles? The recent debate in Parliament over whether people who receive honorary doctorates should be permitted to use the title “Dr”…

There was a time when cleanliness was not merely something Namibia aspired to. It was part of the country’s identity. Windhoek was widely celebrated as the “cleanest city in Africa”, a reputation built over decades and reinforced by residents, businesses and successive municipal administrations. The title eventually went to Kigali around 2015/16, but the loss was about more than an informal African crown. It represented the erosion of something Namibians had come to regard as part of who we were.  The question today is uncomfortable but necessary:how did we allow ourselves to become a dirtier country, and is this deterioration…

As unemployment remains one of Namibia’s most stubborn economic problems, a growing chorus of employers is asking a provocative question: are some Namibians unemployed because they cannot find work or because they are unwilling to do the work available? The answer, however, is far more complicated than either side would like to admit. There is a question increasingly being whispered in boardrooms, shops, restaurants, factories and offices across Namibia: Is unemployment always the result of there being no jobs, or are there people who are unemployed because they are unwilling to work? It is a politically and socially uncomfortable question. For…

Namibia must be brave enough to ask whether, in rejecting apartheid, we sometimes threw out good systems along with the bad There are some questions in Namibia that people discuss quietly but rarely dare to ask publicly. One of them is this: Did apartheid have anything that independent Namibia could have retained or learnt from? Before the outrage begins, let us be absolutely clear. Apartheid was an evil system. It was based on racial discrimination, political exclusion and the deliberate denial of rights and opportunities to the majority of Namibians. Its education system was deeply unequal. Its urban planning was…

Is Namibia’s financial system economically inclusive enough — or are we simply giving everyone an account without giving everyone a chance to build wealth? There is an uncomfortable conversation taking place quietly across Namibia. It is not necessarily being discussed in the polished boardrooms of the country’s commercial banks. It is happening among entrepreneurs, young professionals, small-business owners and aspiring investors. The question is increasingly being framed in racial terms: Does your skin colour affect your chances of getting bank funding in Namibia? That is a dangerous question. But pretending that nobody is asking it would be even more dangerous.…

Patience Makwele Prime minister Elijah Ngurare has backed a proposal to improve pay for young people entering the workforce, saying the government must do more if internships and entry-level programmes are failing to compensate them adequately. Ngurare raised the issue at the Government Human Resource Conference in Windhoek on Monday, where he challenged human-resource practitioners to look beyond simply placing young people in the workplace and consider whether they are being given conditions that allow them to develop. “If these interns are saying we are not paying well enough, what do we do? We must pay them well enough. And…

Patience Makwele Namibia’s youth unemployment crisis has come under renewed scrutiny, with regional stakeholders calling for more practical opportunities to help young people move from training and government programmes into actual employment. The call was made by Khomas regional governor Sam Nujoma during an African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) validation consultation in Windhoek earlier this week, where he urged stakeholders to give an honest assessment of progress made in addressing challenges facing the country. “Where progress has been made, let it be confirmed,” Nujoma said. His remarks come as the APRM conducts consultations across all 14 regions to assess the…

Patience Makwele African young people are demanding a greater say in policies affecting their future, saying they should no longer be treated merely as beneficiaries of programmes designed to address their challenges. Youth Sustainable Development Network (YSDN) co-founder and chief executive officer Damilola Hamid Balogun made the call as the eighth Youth Sustainable Development Conference got underway at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Windhoek on Wednesday. Held under the theme “Powering Change”, the three-day conference has brought together young leaders, policymakers, innovators, investors and development partners to discuss sustainable development, climate action, energy, innovation and Africa’s…